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@krnel and I have had our differences, and will continue to do so, but looking at the Trending Page these days, it does make me feel nostalgic for the days when we at least had to *pretend* that our content was good, intellectual, philosophical, meaningful and such shit.

It at least made the community look better, and Steemit look less like a desperate money grab where the posts are just an excuse.

I mean come on.

This can't be okay. Yes, it's amusing to a point. I did get my laughs out of it. Multiple times, even. But now that it's out of my system, this just makes me sad.

How many of you are old enough to remember @msgivings?

He/she/I'mnotsure was one of the first big trending names on Steemit in the summer of 2016. The account raked in thousands per post, until being exposed as a plagiarizer. Apparently, it was a bot creating those posts by combining phrases from existing articles.

Or something like that.

The account was nuked *immediately*.

I remember that sending a message to me, as a member of a platform that was still new and fresh, that we really need to be careful with what we post; it's bullshit and it gets too popular, people will call you out on it, you get nuked and your account is forever dead. All in an instance.

These days?

No one just seems to care. There doesn't seem to be any moderating going on.

And mind you, I'm not just talking about everybody's favorite guitar hero here. He's just the most blatant example of what I feel is wrong with the place these days.

In my subjective experience, that is. If people feel things are peachy, I can't really argue with a subjective experience. But right now, Steemit is not really a site I'd like to show to a smart friend of mine.

*"So, uhh, this is the place where you post?"*

*"Umm, yeah. Look, the trending page is really bad, but..."*

*"Dude, why do you post here? What's actually wrong with you? Show me on this doll where you were touched, causing the traumas you are now handling by posting on a site like this. Please, I want to help."*

It'd get real awkward real quick.

Somewhere along the line, something changed. It seems. I remember thinking a few years ago that due to [Skin in the Game](https://www.amazon.com/Skin-Game-Hidden-Asymmetries-Daily/dp/042528462X) the whales would be incentivized by the profit motive to moderate the site in order to make it as appealing as possible for new users and investors.

I don't know what happened. I guess making money off of the site itself became too easy and there's no need for one to have any skin in the game.

Why wouldn't I do what this guy with his guitar and blank stare into the empty void here is doing? Why wouldn't I just clog the trending page with, I dunno, three-line poetry about how it's important to believe in yourself and remembering that it's the inside what counts.

And then read the hundreds and hundreds of comments by minnows praising my deep philosophy.

Damn, if only I was dumb enough to think the praise in such a situation was sincere and not just gullible people thinking that anyone with a big payout is a big shot, so kissing his or her ass will be profitable.

If only.

What do you guys think?